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User:Steveflan/Irish Professional Championship

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This page is about the snooker tournament. For the golf tournament, see Irish PGA Championship.
Not to be confused with Irish Masters or Irish Open (snooker).

Irish Professional Championship
Tournament information
VenueVarious
Established1952
FormatNon-ranking event
Final year2007
Final championRepublic of Ireland Ken Doherty

The Irish Professional Championship was an invitational professional snooker tournament for Irish and Northern Irish snooker players.

History

[edit]

The Irish Professional Championship was inaugurated on 6 November 1952 when the Eire and Northern Ireland Billiards Association announced that Jackie Rea had been unanimously declared as the professional snooker champion of Ireland.[1]

The event was then held on a challenge basis, with the champion choosing his challenger. Due to the lack of professional players within Ireland, Rea was only challenged twice for the title.

The first challenge[2] came from, Jack Bates, who was a professional billiards player. Rea and Bates met in a 73 frame match held at the RAOB Hall in Belfast, with Rea winning by 37 frames to 26[3].

Due to there being no other Irish professional snooker players, it was not until 1972 that Rea's second challenge came from Alex Higgins in a 55 frame match held at different venues across Ireland. Higgins won the match 28-12 to become the new Irish Professional Champion.

Higgins defended the title four times in a row, before losing the title to Dennis Taylor. Taylor defended the title in the following two years. During this time the tournament was sponsored in 1978 by Benson & Hedges and in 1979 by Smithwicks Brewery.[4]

In 1982 the tournament was converted to a knock-out tournament. Eight players took part, and was sponsored by Smithwicks Brewery. Higgins and Taylor won nine titles between them, and their run of success in the championship was interrupted only by Jack McLaughlin, in 1988. After the 1983 event Smithwicks ended their sponsorship, and Strongbow took over for 1985 and 1986 and Matchroom for 1987. After the 1989 event the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association withdrew their backing to national championships in form of £1,000 per player, and the event was discontinued.[4]

In 1992 the event was revived with sponsorship by Murphy's, and for the first time, the event was held in Republic of Ireland. 34 players competed at the event. When Joe Swail and Jason Prince contested the 1992 final, it was the first time in over 20 years it featured neither Higgins or Taylor. It was held again in 1993, but was abandoned again. The event was held again between 2005 and 2007.[4]

Winners

[edit]
Year Winner Runner-up Final score Venue Season
Challenge matches
1952 Northern Ireland Jackie Rea n/a
1956 Northern Ireland Jackie Rea Northern Ireland Jack Bates 37–26 Northern Ireland Belfast
1972 Northern Ireland Alex Higgins Northern Ireland Jackie Rea 28–12 Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland various 1971/72
1978 Northern Ireland Alex Higgins Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor 21–7 Northern Ireland Belfast 1977/78
1978 Northern Ireland Alex Higgins Republic of Ireland Patsy Fagan 21–13 Northern Ireland Belfast
1979 Northern Ireland Alex Higgins Republic of Ireland Patsy Fagan 21–12 Northern Ireland Belfast 1978/79
1980 Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor Northern Ireland Alex Higgins 21–15 Northern Ireland Belfast 1979/80
1981 Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor Republic of Ireland Patsy Fagan 22–21 Northern Ireland Coleraine 1980/81
Knockout tournaments
1982 Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor Northern Ireland Alex Higgins 16–13 Northern Ireland Coleraine 1981/82
1983 Northern Ireland Alex Higgins Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor 16–11 Northern Ireland Belfast 1982/83
1985 Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor Northern Ireland Alex Higgins 10–5 Northern Ireland Belfast 1984/85
1986 Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor Northern Ireland Alex Higgins 10–7 Northern Ireland Belfast 1985/86
1987 Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor Republic of Ireland Joe O'Boye 9–2 Northern Ireland Antrim 1986/87
1988 Northern Ireland Jack McLaughlin Northern Ireland Dennis Taylor 9–4 Northern Ireland Antrim 1987/88
1989 Northern Ireland Alex Higgins Northern Ireland Jack McLaughlin 9–7 Northern Ireland Antrim 1988/89
1992 Northern Ireland Joe Swail Northern Ireland Jason Prince 9–1 Republic of Ireland Cork 1991/92
1993 Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty Republic of Ireland Stephen Murphy 9–2 Republic of Ireland Cork 1992/93
2005[5] Northern Ireland Joe Swail Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty 9–7 Republic of Ireland Templeogue 2005/06
2006[6] Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty Republic of Ireland Michael Judge 9–4 Republic of Ireland Templeogue 2006/07
2007[7] Republic of Ireland Ken Doherty Republic of Ireland Fergal O'Brien 9–2 Republic of Ireland Dublin 2007/08


Player Summary

[edit]
Name Country Winner Runner-up Finals
Alex Higgins  Northern Ireland 6 4 10
Dennis Taylor  Northern Ireland 6 3 9
Ken Doherty  Ireland 3 1 4
Joe Swail  Northern Ireland 2 0 2
Jackie Rea [8]  Northern Ireland 1 1 2
Jack McLaughlin  Northern Ireland 1 1 2
Patsy Fagan  Ireland 0 3 3
Jack Bates  Northern Ireland 0 1 1
Joe O'Boye  Ireland 0 1 1
Jason Prince  Northern Ireland 0 1 1
Stephen Murphy  Ireland 0 1 1
Michael Judge  Ireland 0 1 1
Fergal O'Brien  Ireland 0 1 1

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Rea Irish snooker champion". Belfast Telegraph. 6 November 1952. p. 10 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ "Billiards cup ties tonight". Belfast Telegraph. 1 December 1956. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "Rea makes certain". Belfast Telegraph. 8 December 1956. p. 8 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ a b c Turner, Chris. "Irish Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  5. ^ "2005 Irish Professional Championship". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  6. ^ "2006 Irish Professional Championship". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 23 October 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  7. ^ "2007 VC Poker Irish Professional Championship". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  8. ^ Jackie Rea was inaugurated as the first Irish Professional Champion without playing a match.
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